More than a decade ago, Rabbi Jonah Layman was planning his daughter’s bat mitzvah. But Shaare Tefila Congregation, the synagogue in Olney that he led, did not have a building.
So Layman turned to Ohr Kodesh Congregation in Chevy Chase. He said he could have been treated like an outsider with a checkbook. Instead, he was treated like a member of the Ohr Kodesh family.
Ohr Kodesh’s executive director at the time, Jerry Kiewe, was the biggest reason for that, Layman said. It was Kiewe who worked with the family to plan the simchah.
“He made it seem like we’re a partner, and we want to make this a memorable event for you. And he made that happen,” the rabbi said.
Now, the two men really are partners. Kiewe is Shaare Tefila’s new executive director.
“It’s a small Jewish world,” said Layman, who begins his 30th year at Shaare Tefila in August.
Kiewe, 61, served Ohr Kodesh for 16 years before taking the job at Shaare Tefila. He already knew about the Olney synagogue. But when he started talking to its leaders, he got the same impression that Layman once got from him.
“They couldn’t have been more warm and welcoming,” he said. “It’s a very heimish place.”
Shaare Tefila has been around since 1951. It remains affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. It views the “pillars” of Jewish life as “Torah, worship and acts of loving kindness,” according to shaaretefila.org. Its values are “joy, inclusive, friendship, diversity, egalitarian, family.”
“Welcome to Shaare Tefila,” reads the banner on shaaretefila.org. “Where you will always belong.”
Right now, about 240 households have taken the synagogue up on that offer, according to Kiewe. Between 40 and 50 attend Shabbat services during the non-summer seasons.
The congregation no longer offers preschool. The program died during COVID. But it is close to a rental agreement with a day care provider that will bring in more revenue.
“We’re in pretty good shape as far as smaller synagogues go,” Layman said.
But Shaare Tefila wants to attract more members. Layman and congregation president Eric Marshall believe that Kiewe can help with that.
Marshall said the office often gets calls from “the general synagogue shopper.” Kiewe is the perfect person to get on the phone in that situation.
“He’s very personable,” Marshall said.
Marshall picked up on that quality during Kiewe’s interview process. He didn’t dodge questions. He answered them directly.
Those answers enhanced the leaders’ impression of Kiewe as a respectable, reliable professional. They already liked his resume, which showed the 16 years at Ohr Kodesh and time at BBYO and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore.
“He’s been an executive director for a long time, and he’s been working in the Jewish community for almost 30 years,” Marshall said.
Ironically, Kiewe never planned to work for synagogues. In the late 2000s, he took a two-month interim position at Ohr Kodesh between jobs. He thought it would be something to do while he searched for his next role.
But then he started to enjoy it. Kiewe got the same feeling that he would later get at Shaare Tefila.
“I found it to be very heimish,” he said. “The people there were wonderful.”
Kiewe believes his experience as a networker and community builder can help Shaare Tefila grow. He said the executive director’s job is to remember that the congregation has 240 households of people with different needs. The executive director must listen to them, but also remember the big picture and communicate it when necessary.
“The executive director is more than just somebody who sits behind the desk and makes sure the budget is balanced and the bills are paid,” Layman said. “He’s a face.”
Layman does not pretend to have the answers to attract more Jews to a Conservative congregation in 2023/5783. But he thinks he has an idea of what the pitch should be.
“To reinforce the message of how valuable relationships are,” he explained. “In a world where we’re inundated with social media, personal, physical, one-on-one relationships
are important, and synagogues provide that.”
A competent executive director can help a synagogue fulfill that mission.
“The more experienced professionals are at the helm perhaps the more successful we’ll be,” Layman said. ■